“This is a nightmare,” she breathed, no longer caring which picture it was so long as it was a whole somebody. She could not leave the bathroom looking like this, and while she could turn back to herself without a picture, she would be naked.
“It’s all right,” Kyle murmured, slipping out of the stall to pat her back as he met her gaze in the mirror. “We’ll fix it with the other picture.”
“Oh dear.”
Claire turned sharply toward the stalls as Jill came out with the remaining picture in hand. “Oh dear, what?”
“Nothing. It’ll be fine,” Jill said quickly, suddenly picking at the picture, then she paused and said, “Oh no.”
“Oh no? Don’t say ‘oh no.’” Claire started forward to take the picture, but Jill suddenly frowned at her as if just realizing she was out of the stall.
“What are you doing?” she cried. “Get back in the stall! Someone could see you.” Holding the picture out of Claire’s reach, she grabbed her with her free hand and wrestled her into the stall, then slammed the door behind them and sighed.
“Jill?” Kyle asked from the other side of the door and she grimaced, then opened the door again and waved him in. She waited until they were all situated in their original places again before locking the stall door once more.
“Tell me,” Claire ordered grimly.
Jill sighed, then held out the snapshot. Claire snatched it from her hand, peered down and nearly bit off her own tongue. The picture had landed facedown on a wad of gum. The girl who had used the stall must have stepped on it because it had really been worked into the picture. When Jill had tried to pick it away, the image itself had ripped off the photo backing.
“Hell,” Kyle muttered.
“It will be all right,” Jill assured them both as she turned to the door. “Wait here.”
“Wait here?” Claire grabbed at her arm with alarm. “Where are you going?”
“The corner store is only a couple minutes away. I’ll get a fan magazine with a picture of Brad in it and be right back,” she assured her.
“Brad? What about her? Do you have another picture of her?” Kyle asked with concern.
“No. Unfortunately, we only took the one snapshot,” Jill admitted and Kyle turned back to Claire.
“Can you do it without the picture?”
“No,” she said on a sigh.
“Have you tried?” Kyle asked and Claire smiled faintly, thinking he sounded just like his sister earlier that day when she’d been coaxing her to be Brad Cruise.
“She can turn back into herself, but she’ll end up naked without a picture to look at,” Jill announced.
“Naked?” Kyle’s gaze flickered over her in such a way she thought he might be picturing her that way. And might not necessarily think it was a bad thing.
“What time is it?” Claire asked suddenly.
“I don’t know. Why?” Jill asked with confusion.
“I was just wondering how much of this double date from hell I’ve spent in the bathroom,” she admitted, and Kyle, who had glanced at his wristwatch, now let it drop to his side without telling the time. That long, she thought with a sigh.
“Look, you two wait here and I’ll go get a magazine at the store,” Jill repeated.
“No. Enough of this nonsense,” Kyle said. “She’s not turning back into Brad. She’s supposed to be Claire now.”
“Well she isn’t Claire now, and surely a full Brad is better than a Brad with boobs for getting her out of here?” Jill pointed out. “We can leave, then I’ll take her home and she can change into herself and put on the dress and come back to finish the date with you.”
While the twins continued to argue, Claire peered down at herself with a frown, recalling the incident on the dance floor when she’d accidentally made her boobs grow and then shrink. Could she do it again? Squeezing her eyes closed, she concentrated on making them go away and leaving her flat-chested.
“Oh man that is so awesome!”
Claire blinked her eyes open at Jill’s words and peered down to find her chest flat.
“Can you make them grow?” Jill asked curiously.
“I believe she did on the dance floor tonight,” Kyle said dryly, and Claire felt herself flush.
“It was an accident,” she admitted.
“Do you know how cool this is?” Jill asked with disbelief. “A boob job without silicone or surgery. Oh Kyle, can I get zapped, too?”
“Jill!” Claire cried, staring at her with disbelief.
“No,” Kyle said firmly at the same time.
Jill chose to respond to Kyle’s answer, asking a plaintive “Why not?”